Militants kill 6 Tunisian policemen

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TUNIS — Suspected Islamist militants killed six policemen in Tunisia’s south on Wednesday, while thousands of protesters in the capital called for the government’s resignation, citing growing insecurity in the country.

National Guard members converged on a home in the village of Sidi Ali Bououn, where they were told a suspicious group was hiding, a Ministry of Interior official said.

They were met with gunfire, and in the ensuing clash at least one alleged militant was killed and one wounded, the spokesman said. Four other policemen were injured.

Tunisians overthrew the long-ruling dictator in January 2011. Then they voted in the Islamist Ennahda party in the country’s first free and competitive elections. But there has been wide dissatisfaction with the government, and after talks with the opposition, it agreed to resign. Opposition supporters protested in Tunis
Wednesday to keep pressure on the government.

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